Release the Clinton Whitewater Tapes

By

Theodore J. Boutrous Jr.

Updated July 17, 1996 12:01 a.m. ET

The videotape of President Clinton's testimony in the Whitewater criminal trial of Herby Branscum Jr. and Robert Hill is expected to be played this week to a federal jury in Little Rock, but if the president has his way, most Americans will never get a chance to see or hear him testify. The president and his lawyers argue that "respect for the Office of the President" prohibits public release of his videotaped Whitewater testimony.

The real reason for the president's resistance, however, is far less lofty: fear...